Let me just start by saying…the future is so bright I have to wear shades…

As I see it, there seems to be a greater awareness if not a general understanding of skinning Windows now more than ever before. As your average Joe’s and Jane’s gain better and more advanced computer skills (from n00b to g33k in a week, news at eleven, he-he) it seems a natural progression that once the fear of technology is out of the way that one would eventually evolve into the ‘tweak’ and ‘tamper’ types. I think it’s a fairly normal compulsion to want to adapt to and then somehow control the environment you’re occupying and if your time is occupied for any normal-every-day amount of minutes to hours on a computer it’s bound to advance computer knowledge in time spent alone…and get people curious and bored of the average Joe-GUI.

Thankfully, nowadays, folks don’t need much of a ‘geek-quotient’ at all any longer to customize and tweak to their heart’s content safely and without so much of a hint of a glitch or ‘bsod’ (unlike back in ‘the day’ when registry edits were best handled only if you REALLY had a good clue wth you were doing along with changing icons and program associations etc. etc.) and the Object Desktop Suite makes all that pretty much easy as pie even for someone fairly new [*gasp*] to computers today.

In many ways computers are our “home away from home even within our home” now…we log-on to speak with dear friends…to share ideas…exchange help and support, to update our websites and to find information that we can garner at the click of a mouse and of course…to surf just for the fun of it. I think the whole idea of a ‘home-page’ sort of sums up the mentality of the computer/internet experience in that we find a comfort zone and we call it ‘home’ and with the Internet gaining more worldwide ‘connectivity’ the idea of skinning and customizing our ‘comfort’ zone will only gain in popularity to the point where people will never even question the idea of “skinning” but embrace it full-throttle. Oh yeah, baby!

As skinning via Windowblinds gets easier and easier with the help of the WYSIWYG editor like Skinstudio provided by Stardock…eventually the idea of skinning will become a fun pastime for everyone…! Imagine if you will…a mother who helps her daughter design a custom windowblind skin just for her daughter and her alone? A father who customizes one for his son on his birthday or a family who wants to commemorate a special event and can share the skin via email or website so that each family member can ‘wear’ that skin… A husband/lover who surprises his beloved on their anniversary with one made just for her? Wouldn’t YOU feel all warm and squishy inside if you owned the only WB skin of it’s kind from someone who spent hours of love and inspiration just for you? It’s not just about ‘customization’ but ‘personalization’ …well…hehe I hope you get the idea…

Have you ever played “The Sims?” The most fun I got out of that was building my own floor plan ideas and styles and designs from the drywall, carpeting etc. on up to the roof! That game is STILL going strong (my daughter is addicted)…and I think those young and old who like that game are RIPE for learning to enjoy making their own skins as well! I guess as time goes on I get a bit excited about the future of what skinning will mean to even the average (average meaning…average computer knowledge) person…I hope it ends up being much more inclusive to everyone so that it’s so damned addictive… Well, let’s just put it this way…Stardock will go down in history…or should I say go UP?

I see some incredible leaps and bounds and possibilities in what Object Desktop has done…and I hope they can work on making it easier and easier for folks because that will REALLY get the creative juices flowing and people will POUNCE on that bandwagon to be able to have the kind of control of their desktop that Object Desktop and all of it’s amazing components can provide!

Okay…don’t kill the messenger…it was only my opinion!